Seminar Announcement:

SEMINAR DATE/TIME: Tuesday May 7^th, 12:00pm

LOCATION: MSB 1147 (Colloquium Room)

SPEAKER: Ross L. Prentice (Professor Emeritus, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center & University of Washington)

TITLE: “Nutritional Epidemiology Using Intake Biomarkers”

ABSTRACT: Nutritional epidemiology research for the past 50 years has relied almost exclusively on self-reported dietary data. Energy (calorie) intake is poorly estimated by self-report, with major systematic biases. However, our research group recently developed a strong energy intake biomarker, and found higher mortality risk at higher energy intake among younger postmenopausal women having stable or increasing weight, as well as lower mortality risk at higher energy intake among older postmenopausal women with weight loss. Self-reported ratios of food group or nutrient intake to total energy may also incorporate important systematic biases, but these biases are still largely unexplored due to a lack of objective intake measures for comparison. Small molecule (metabolite) profiles in blood and urine provide the opportunity to develop objective intake measures for many aspects of diet. Recently developed biomarkers for macronutrients and their major components will be described, along with related chronic disease risk associations in Women’s Health Initiative cohorts of postmenopausal women. Opportunities to strengthen the future nutritional epidemiology research agenda will be described.